THE GENEROUS spirit of a village community has helped a Ribble Valley church achieve an amazing feat -- raising £24,500 for its spire appeal in just three weeks.

The appeal for repairs to the landmark copper spire at St Peter's Church, Salesbury, is already within striking distance of its £25,000 target.

Vicar at the 111-year-old church, Rev John Hartley, said: "The response from the church and the community has been overwhelming.

"It is comforting to know that the church does still hold an important position in people's lives.

"Even though people may not come to services regularly, it seems the church is still something that they value.

"The church spire is made from copper and it is a distinctive landmark in the neighbourhood. "We knew that some repair work was needed and we are also taking the opportunity to carry out some work around the bell tower.

Parishioners circulated leaflets in the neighbourhood explaining about the appeal, and the majority of the money was raised at a gift day held at the church last Saturday.

Mr Hartley said: "The scaffolding had already gone up when we held the gift day, so the community was very much aware of what was going on and that helped a great deal.

"We wanted to concentrate our efforts into a short period of time and it seems to have worked very well."

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